AQA Psychology A-level Topic 2: Memory

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering models, theories, key terms, and research details for AQA Psychology A-level Topic 2: Memory.

Coding

The format or type of information that is stored in a memory store, being acoustic in short-term memory and semantic in long-term memory.

Capacity

The volume of information or data that can be kept in any memory store at any one time.

Duration

The length of time that information can be stored in a memory store.

Multi-Store Model of Memory (MSM)

A model representing how memory is stored, transferred between stores, retrieved, and forgotten across three distinct stores: the sensory register, short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM).

Sensory Register

A memory store for environmental stimuli containing a sub-store for each of the $5$ senses (e.g. echoic store for auditory information), with a huge capacity but a duration of less than half a second.

Maintenance Rehearsal

The process of repeating new information to oneself to keep it retained in short-term memory.

Elaborative Rehearsal

A type of rehearsal proposed by Craik and Watkins (1973) where links are made with existing knowledge to transfer information from short-term memory into long-term memory.

Episodic Memory

A long-term memory store for personal life events, including context such as when and where they occurred and associated people or places, requiring conscious recall.

Semantic Memory

A long-term memory store for world knowledge, facts, concepts, and language meanings, requiring conscious recall.

Procedural Memory

A long-term memory store for learned motor skills and actions (e.g., swimming, driving), retrieved unconsciously.

Declarative Memory

Memories that must be recalled consciously, encompassing episodic and semantic memories as classified by Cohen and Squire.

Non-Declarative Memory

Memories that can be recalled unconsciously, such as procedural memories.

Working Memory

A brain process and storage mechanism operating over a few seconds that temporarily stores, manipulates information, and focuses attention.

Working Memory Model (WMM)

An explanation of short-term memory organization proposed by Baddeley and Hitch, suggesting STM consists of the central executive, phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketchpad, and episodic buffer.

Central Executive

The component of working memory that acts as an attentional process with limited processing capacity, responsible for allocating tasks to the slave systems.

Phonological Loop

A slave system in working memory that processes auditory information, composed of the articulatory process and the phonological store.

Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad (VSS)

A slave system in working memory that processes visual and spatial data, split into the visual cache and inner scribe, with a capacity of around $4\text{--}5$ chunks.

Episodic Buffer

A temporary storage component of the central executive that integrates visual, spatial, and auditory information from other stores and links short-term memory to long-term memory.

Interference Theory

An explanation for forgetting in LTM where one memory blocks or conflicts with the recall of another memory.

Retroactive Interference

Occurs when newly learned information interferes with or blocks the recall of previously learned older information.

Proactive Interference

Occurs when older memories block or interfere with the recollection of newly learned information.

Retrieval Failure

An explanation for forgetting occurring when cues present at encoding are missing at the time of recall.

Encoding Specificity Principle (ESP)

Tulving's principle stating that memory retrieval is most successful when the cues present during recall match the cues present at encoding.

Context-Dependent Forgetting

Forgetting that occurs when external environmental cues present at encoding do not match the cues present at recall.

State-Dependent Forgetting

Forgetting that occurs when internal physiological or psychological states present at encoding do not match those present at recall.

Eyewitness Testimony (EWT)

The account or evidence provided by an individual who directly witnessed a crime or event.

Leading Questions

Questions phrased in a way that suggests a specific answer or alters the witness's recall.

Speed Estimates in Experiment 1 (Loftus and Palmer)

A study graph demonstrating how critical verbs in leading questions change mean speed estimates, with 'Smashed' yielding the highest estimate and 'Contacted' the lowest.

Substitution Explanation

The proposal that leading questions genuinely alter an eyewitness's stored memory representation of an event.

Response Bias

The idea that leading questions do not change the stored memory itself, but instead influence how a participant chooses to formulate their answer.

Post-Event Discussion

Discussions taking place between co-witnesses following a crime that can lead to contamination of eyewitness testimonies.

Memory Conformity

The phenomenon where co-witnesses alter their recollections to align with others due to belief that the other person is correct or to gain approval.

Own-Age Bias

The tendency to identify and recall individuals of one's own age group with significantly higher accuracy than those of other age groups.

Tunnel Theory of Memory

The proposal that high anxiety narrows an eyewitness's focus entirely onto the central source of threat or weapon, decreasing recall for surrounding details.

Weapon Focus Effect

The observation that the presence of a weapon draws attention away from other aspects of a crime scene due to anxiety or surprise.

Yerkes-Dodson Law

A principle proposing an inverted-U relationship between physiological arousal/anxiety levels and cognitive or physical performance.

Cognitive Interview (CI)

A method of interviewing eyewitnesses utilizing four main stages: report everything, reinstate context, change perspective, and reverse the order.

Enhanced Cognitive Interview

A modified interviewing method developed by Fisher et al. (1987) focusing on the social dynamics of interaction, such as managing eye contact and establishing rapport.